"But... Klee never told me any of this..." Jean murmured.
"Klee's a good girl. She knows you're busy with official duties, always exhausted, so of course she wouldn't want to burden you with more worries," Lisa said. "She may be young, but she's very thoughtful."
"…" Jean lowered her head, guilt written all over her face. "It's me... I haven't fulfilled my responsibilities. I've failed Klee..."
"Don't say that, Jean," Akio said, taking her hand. "You've been a dutiful guardian. If anyone's truly failed her, it's that Alice lady."
"I... I'll spend more time with Klee from now on. I'll make sure she doesn't feel so lonely. I really have been neglecting her feelings all this time," Jean said, her voice heavy with remorse.
"Sigh..." Lisa shook her head. "If you ask me, you should start by learning to let go of the things you shouldn't be handling in the first place."
"Things I shouldn't handle?" Jean looked at her in confusion.
"Jean, back when we were just friends, I never commented on how you managed your work. But now that we both belong to our darling, now that we're sisters, I'm not holding back," Lisa said seriously.
"I understand your determination to protect Mondstadt. I know how much you've sacrificed. But come on—chasing cats and dogs? You don't need to deal with that personally," Lisa said pointedly.
"You're only one person. Even gods need aides when managing a nation's affairs, don't they?" she continued. "But you keep piling everything on yourself."
"People in Mondstadt have grown spoiled. Lazy. Like overgrown babies. Even finding a lost pet—they come crying to you," Lisa said. "Now that Grand Master Varka has left, you're the highest authority in Mondstadt. You shouldn't be letting things go on like this."
"But... if I can't even handle small things like that, how can I protect Mondstadt?" Jean asked quietly.
"You don't protect Mondstadt by doing every petty chore. All that does is raise a bunch of useless brats," Lisa said, raising her voice. "What do you think the Knights of Favonius are for? Are they incapable of handling it? Why is it the Captain doing all of this?"
"But Grand Master Varka took most of the knights on the expedition. The Knightly Order is short-staffed," Jean argued.
"Short-staffed? Then tell me—don't you know plenty of knights are still slacking off?" Lisa snapped. "You know it. But you let it slide."
"..." Jean fell silent, head bowed.
"Jean, do you have any idea how much it hurts me to see you like this?" Lisa said, voice trembling. "You go through your coffee rations so fast, you always need extra from me."
"Do you know what that does to your body? You're still young, and you've already fainted how many times?" Lisa's voice grew louder and louder.
"Your body is at its limit. If Akio hadn't healed you—if the Divine Coronation hadn't brought us to Inazuma—I don't even want to think about when you would've collapsed for good."
"Then what happens to Mondstadt? To your sister? To me? Did you ever think about that?" Lisa's eyes filled with tears. "Protect Mondstadt forever? You think collapsing from exhaustion is going to help with that?!"
"Lisa..." Jean looked at her, heart aching. She reached out to take Lisa's hand, but Lisa angrily pulled away.
"Lisa, sweetheart, don't be mad," Akio said, pulling Lisa into his arms and soothing her gently. "Jean understands now. She won't push herself like that again... right, Jean?"
"Ah? Yes, I will change," Jean quickly nodded.
"Lisa... please don't be upset," Klee came over and tugged gently on Lisa's sleeve.
"Sigh... Jean, you can't keep letting Mondstadt slip like this. All you're doing is enabling it..." Lisa said. "A city full of man-babies isn't any different from a city of corpses."
"..." Jean nodded, holding onto Lisa's hand tightly.
"She's right," Akio added with a nod. He completely agreed with Lisa. Even back when he played the game, Mondstadt's overly dependent citizens had always annoyed him.
When Jean had fainted and he rushed to heal her, he was distressed by how overworked she was. He never imagined she'd been pushing herself this far.
"I... I understand," Jean said softly, burying herself in Akio's embrace. "Please... don't scold me anymore. I'll change. I promise."
"Sigh..." Akio and Lisa both exhaled at the same time. Hopefully this time she meant it—and wouldn't just listen without following through.
"Darling, spend more time with us today, won't you? Just thinking about going back to Mondstadt and not seeing you for a while... it makes me so sad," Lisa said, clinging to his side with a sniffle.
"Pfft~ Oh please, Lisa," Akio gave her a look of playful disdain. This wicked woman really was just like Yae Miko.
"I gave you two Imaginary Anchors. You can see me whenever you want. Don't go loafing around the library so much that you forget about your husband," he teased. "If I don't see my lovely Lisa, I'll start crying and throwing a tantrum. Poor me."
"..." Lisa looked at him, deadpan. This guy… why was he such a troll now? Who had he even learned this from?
"Darling is so... um... eccentric," Jean muttered after a long pause, carefully choosing her words.
"Alright, alright, enough teasing. Today, I'll spend the whole day with you girls," Akio said, then picked Klee up. "Little Klee, want big brother Akio to take you out for something yummy?"
"Yay! Klee wants rice pudding!" she cheered.
"Perfect! We'll get a big portion!" Akio laughed as he led the three of them out of the room.
…
Liyue.
With the successful return of Liyue's delegation—bearing numerous business projects from Inazuma—Liyue's commercial circles had erupted with excitement.
A country just coming out of isolation always meant opportunity. Risk, yes, but also enormous potential.
Many of Liyue's wealthy merchants were eager to be the first to "eat the Inazuman crab," but a subtle, invisible force seemed to be holding them back, preventing them from stepping out of line.
Everyone knew whose handiwork it was—Tianquan of the Liyue Qixing. But no one dared to act too boldly.
Unfortunately, this meant misery for Ningguang's three personal secretaries.
At the moment, Baiwen had just hauled in a mountain of appointment requests and banquet invitations, stacking them beside Ningguang.
"Sigh... Lady Ningguang, these people are really relentless," Baiwen groaned, rubbing her sore waist.
"Hmph. They're not here for the projects—they're here for me. But their intentions are far from pure," Ningguang said calmly, taking a graceful sip of tea.